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The second edition of the Minghella Film Festival will take place in Newport on the Isle of Wight from 12 to 14 March 2010.  Last year's event showcased Oscar©winning director Anthony Minghella's feature films with introductions by members of his family and interviews with friends and colleagues including Jude Law, Alan Rickman, Martin Freeman and Lord David Puttnam. 

This year's event continues the personal approach to presenting Anthony Minghella's work with a fascinating and eclectic programme featuring his television and radio career.  Highlights of the event will include a live performance of the award-winning radio play Cigarettes and Chocolate and a concert by composer Barrington Pheloung, whose best-loved collaboration with Anthony, Inspector Morse, was recently listed amongst the top 50 television dramas of all time(i). 

For 2010, the festival is also expanding to screen films by young, aspiring and up-and-coming filmmakers, inspired by Anthony's example.  The weekend will open with the UK premiere of the Monte Carlo Comedy Film Festival's ‘Best First Film' winner, The Be All and End All, a feature film produced and directed by Isle of Wight resident Bruce Webb.  The film will be shown in a double-bill with Love You More, the short film debut of artist Sam Taylor-Wood which was produced by Anthony Minghella.  Taylor-Wood has since gone on to direct the acclaimed, BAFTA-nominated feature, Nowhere Boy.

The 2010 edition of the Minghella Film Festival will also feature the ‘best of' the Isle of Wight Short Film Festival; digital shorts presented by Screen South, the film and media agency for the South East; and films produced by island schools.

The festival is hosted by the Minghella family in cooperation with the British Film Institute and the Isle of Wight Young Chamber.  It will open at Newport Cineworld on Friday evening 12 March with a variety of events over the weekend there and at nearby Quay Arts.

Festival founder Gioia Minghella comments: "We are delighted to present another unique tribute to my brother's extraordinary artistic legacy.  It's going to be a lot of fun, and we hope it will also raise considerable funds for some really worthwhile causes close to Anthony's heart.  Of course, Anthony was famously as interested in helping and encouraging others as he was in art for art's sake, and I know he would have been deeply moved that so many of his closest friends and colleagues are once more joining with his family - and, indeed, the wider family of the Isle of Wight - to make this project a reality."

For further information and to receive updates on the programme of events as these are released, please register at http://www.minghellafilmfestival.com/